John David Foringer

John David “JD” Foringer grew up in Washington, Pennsylvania, the youngest of six children and ten years younger than his brother, Alan. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1983, served as an aviation anti-submarine warfare electronics technician with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Twelve aboard USS MIDWAY in Yokosuka, Japan, and went on to a 20-year Navy career, rising through the enlisted ranks to Chief Petty Officer and retiring as a Lieutenant.

Alan was the Best Man at JD’s wedding in December 1990. Eight months later, Alan died in Metro Manila. In 2001, a History documentary and a few Internet searches revealed accounts of his brother’s secret career, and JD committed to discovering and publishing Alan’s truth.

His research draws on remarkable sources. Before he passed away, journalist Gary Thompson gave JD his complete research for “The Search for the Tiger’s Treasure,” his original 26-part Las Vegas Sun series, including more than 100 recorded interviews. JD held a four-hour interview with Major General John K. Singlaub, USA (Ret.), and traced the role of Lieutenant General Robert L. Schweitzer, USA (Ret.), former senior military advisor to President Reagan, whose Geo Military Tech team joined the treasure hunt. He has spoken with authors David Morrell (First Blood, and Assumed Identity, which drew on the experiences of MSG Daniel “Rock” Meyers, USA (Ret.)), Sterling Seagrave and David Troy.

Along the way he has filed FOIA requests and interviewed the men who worked beside Alan in the Philippines, including Rock Meyers and Navy SEAL Curtis Williams, as well as Alan’s hometown friends and Duke fraternity brothers.

JD has appeared on History’s “Lost Gold of World War II” (Season 1, Episodes 6–8) and “Beyond Oak Island” (Season 1, Episode 3). Becoming My Brother’s Keeper is his first book.

JD began working on the book about ten years after Alan’s death. Looking back, he says that had he written it then, or in the 14 years that followed, he would have chronicled much of his brother’s adult life wrong: “I knew ‘what’ he was doing but I had no idea ‘who’ he was doing it for or with.”

Over more than 25 years of work on the book, one of the most striking finds has been a letter in Alan’s own, unmistakable cursive, proposing to replace the Nippon Star name and its principals with a new company. In it, Alan named significant retired general officers, among them Lieutenant General Daniel Graham, USAF (Ret.), of Strategic Defense Initiative fame; General George Keegan, USAF (Ret.); General John W. “Jack” Vessey, USA (Ret.), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lieutenant General Robert L. Schweitzer, USA (Ret.); and Major General John K. Singlaub, USA (Ret.).

From 2001 to 2011 he set out to prove the accounts about Alan wrong. As the evidence mounted, he set aside his assumptions and began to look at everything through a new lens. The result is a book that lays out documents, eyewitness memories and interviews, and lets readers draw their own conclusions.

The title borrows Cain’s question from Genesis 4:9, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The word “Becoming” reflects what the search has been for JD: spiritual and physical, and sustained by his faith.